In honor of Black History Month, on February 2, at 2pm, in the Community Room of the Cutchogue Library, author Jacqueline Dinan will be giving a talk on her book “The Unsettling Legacy of Wayland Jefferson: Missing Evidence, Racism, & Collective Amnesia”

In 1935, the Town of Southold elected Wayland Jefferson as their official historian. During his tenure, Jefferson disrupted traditional religious narratives and wrote histories steeped in taboo subjects—sex, smuggling, and slavery. Although institutions pushed back after 1940 to reclaim their cultural dominance, Jefferson pursued venues remaining open to him to promote his counternarratives. To many in the white community, the town historian was a dishonest gadfly meriting condemnation. To people of color, however, he remains a tenacious straight shooter who deserves recognition. This biography discusses controversies related to the Southold historian triggered after his death: the intersection of racism and historiography, shifting perspectives on collective memory and collective amnesia, and the application of scientific testing to correct errors of interpretation.

Books will be available for purchase and signing.